"The Alaskan" - WIP

Karl B. Andersen

Well-Known Member
Well, I'm going to get a WIP going here at the request of the Big Dogs.
I have a guy getting 2 hunters, a Bowie and an integral of matching handle materials, and this is the Bowie, which I have dubbed "The Alaskan", as the four knives will be going to interior Alaska.
It's based on a Bowie I made about four years ago.
cfvr6-1.jpg


The "Alaskan" will be made from large round stock W2 with stainless fittings.
I will forego all the forging pictures, as we've all seen way too many.
I will focus on the actual building of the knife.
I will show a pic of the W2 stock and what was left after I forged the blade:

Alaskan-d5-1.jpg



I will show the forge area and a few pictures of the finish shop where the build will take place.

The 50# LG in the back left, press, forges, etc.

Alaskan-a9-1.jpg



Alaskan-b1-1.jpg



Gadget bench, oven, bluing tanks, etc.

Alaskan-b2-1.jpg
 
Here are some shots of the finish room showing most of the basic tools of knife making, grinders, mills, etc.

Alaskan-a5-1.jpg


Alaskan-a6-1JPG.jpg


Alaskan-a7-1.jpg


Alaskan-a8-1.jpg



These two pictures are the knife after initial profile and basic grinding:

Alaskan-a1-1.jpg


Alaskan-a2-1.jpg



Here's a little something I like to do to check my fillet after grinding to see what needs to be cleaned up.
Raise the knife, edge down, up between to fluorescent lights over your head. The lights shining on the sides makes them almost disappear and the only thing you can see is what's hanging down below.
It's VERY! revealing:

Alaskan-a3-1.jpg
 
Now, I'm going to clean up the tang and ricasso area to make sure I have the exact same thickness from fillet to tang tip:

Alaskan-a4-1.jpg


I will also show that just before I did the initial grinding, I cleaned up the ricasso and tang and scribed a center line with my height gauge and surface plate. I realize that here the knife is already ground, but I forgot to take the intial picture.
This is how it's done:

Alaskan-c9-1.jpg


Now over to the sanding station to use sanding bars and paper, etc., to clean up the grind lines and get everything a clean lengthwise 220:

Alaskan-b3-1.jpg


After clean up:

Alaskan-b4-1JPG.jpg



Now I mark out where I want my false edge to be on the clip:

Alaskan-b5-1.jpg


And do a basic rough grind on the grinder:

Alaskan-b6-1.jpg
 
Now, there's only one way to do a decent false edge and have it crisp and sharp, and in the center.
That is to draw file the false edge.
I know of no other way.

Alaskan-b7-1.jpg


Then, clean up the draw file marks with a steel sanding bar:

Alaskan-b8-1.jpg


This puts the center in, well, the center!!
And it's sharp and crisp.

Alaskan-b9-1.jpg



Alaskan-c1-1.jpg



Alaskan-c2-1.jpg
 
So, here's our blade, which, by the way is just short of 10 1/4":

Alaskan-c3-1.jpg


Now I sort of figure out where I want my maker's mark:

Alaskan-c4-1.jpg


Alaskan-c5-1.jpg


And stamp it with a 50 ton jack:

Alaskan-c6-1.jpg


After clean up on the surface grinder:

Alaskan-c7-1.jpg


Here I have clamped on a file guide so I can do some basic stock removal of the excess tang material for the guard shoulders:

Alaskan-c8-1.jpg


After grinding excess off:

Alaskan-d1-1.jpg


Then to the mill to mill in the final guard shoulders:

Alaskan-d2-1.jpg


The milled shoulders:

Alaskan-d3-1.jpg
 
Looking good Karl.
New shop is looking great as well. What is the plastic looking door on the right of one pic?

Dwane
 
I try to take a shower every day, and I come from good Scandinavian stock.
Thanks for the compliment.

I would love to see Lawrence's reaction to this comment. I think I will word my responses from here on with much care :)

THE knife looks great.
 
It's one of those vinyl strip walk through doors. The strips are .060" thick, six inches wide and overlap 1" on each side.
Just walk through instead of opening a door.
Keeps the heat in very nicely.

Looking good Karl.
New shop is looking great as well. What is the plastic looking door on the right of one pic?

Dwane
 
I'm going to have to set this on the back burner for a day or two.
I have built the new forge you see below to accommodate forging, thermal cycling, hardening, etc. of longer blades than I am able to easily do in the 12" forge in the back ground.
This new one is made from similar 12" pipe, but I cut it and welded in 8 inch webs to make the working portion of the heat area longer without creating unnecessary volume.
Anyway, I have some 2" ceramic wool coming and I was hoping it would already be here.
It didn't make it today.
The forge is completely ready to go, so all I need to do when the blanket gets here is stop what I'm doing and line it.
Then I'll be able to continue with this knife.
I hope it gets here in the mail tomorrow.
Alaskan-d6-1.jpg
 
Got the forge lined and coated today and ran a few times to get the water evaporated from the refractory.
Seems like she's good to go, so I'll be hardening and tempering the "Alaskan" in the morning. :60:
 
Saturday morning:

Got the new lengthened forge lined and coated yesterday.
Did a trail run this morning.
After figuring out a few things, I hardened the "Alaskan" with a clay induced hamon and she's in the first temper now.
After drying out all the moisture yesterday and this morning, I gave the new forge a trial run.
Here it has been sitting at welding temp for 20 minutes. :what!:

forge1.jpg
 
Last edited:
Back
Top